Daily Search Forum Recap: January 13, 2010

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Google News Page Size Limit Is 256 KB
Did you know that if you are in Google News, you need to keep your pages below 256 KB to get your articles indexed by the Google News Bot? A Google News Help thread has Googler, Inbal, explaining to one publisher why his articles were no longer being included in the Google News index. She said: Thank you for bringing these errors to our attention. It appears that your site's pages are too large. The

Where Is My Google Reconsideration Request Response?
A Google Webmaster Help thread and a WebmasterWorld thread has questions about the timeline for receiving a response from your reconsideration requests. About six months ago, Google began sending notifications of status updates on reconsideration requests. But there are two times where Google will not send a notification. As Susan Moskwa said in the Google Webmaster Help thread: (1) If your site is not (never was) in violation they won't email you (2) If your

100 Listings Per Google Local Business Center
Ever wonder if there is a limit on the number of business listings you can have in your Google Local Business Center? A Google Maps Help thread has Maps Guide Linda saying that limit is currently 100 listings. Linda said: 100 individual listings is the maximum number we permit in Local Business Center accounts. But what if you have more than a 100 offices? That is what one person wanted to know. He said: Thanks

Google's Bold Move to Leave China Drives Good Will
Last night, Google made huge news announcing that they will no longer censor their Chinese search engine, Google.cn after finding out the Chinese government may have made attempts to hack into Gmail to obtain information on Chinese activists. Google wrote: These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered--combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web--have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our

Is Amazon.com Cloaking : Serving Google Different Content?
A WebmasterWorld thread has someone asking if what Amazon is doing, is considered cloaking. First let me show you what they are doing. Go to this page on Amazon.com. Notice, at the top right of the results is a "Sort by" drop down. Here is a picture: Now, go to the Google Cached version of that page: Yes, it is not there. It seems like Amazon served Google the page without the sorting feature, which